Xin Luo
She is confident and loving with a great sense of humor. She almost always wears a grin. She is welcoming to familiar faces as well as not so familiar faces. She has a bit of an ornery streak. For example, if someone asks her for a kiss, she normally stares at them with a big grin on her face, for about a minute, then reaches up to pinch their nose. She loves to laugh with people. She loves for people to laugh at the silly things she does.
Xin Luo was born February 3, 2008 with MMC Spina Bifida. She also has hydrocephalus. Xin Luo has a shunt in her brain that drains the water from her brain to her belly. She has low muscle tone in her lower legs but with the help of her foster family and True Children's Home Foster Care Coordinator, she is learning to walk. Our wish is for Xin Luo to find a forever family this year.
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| Home Care |
Wen Ai and her family came to TCH just days after her adoption. They brought with them
clothes, blankets, socks, teddy bears and bath and body products for the children and staff.
Friends Richard and Amy from Love Without Boundaries came to visit the children's home.
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| Medical Care |
Wen Ya after cleft palate surgery
Guang Chao and his parents as they prepare for cleft lip surgery
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| Foster Care |
Xiang Ding
Foster Care Father - Li Cai Qiu
Foster Care Mother - Li Wei Hua
First time foster parents
Xi Tian
Foster Care Father - Li Wei Qing
Foster Care Mother - Li Cai Lian
Fifth time foster parents
Zhong Xun
Foster Care Father - Li Yuan Gen
Foster Care Mother - Diao Mei Ying
Sixth time foster parents
Wen Ya and Li Ru
Foster Care Father - Li Guo Ping
Foster Care Mother - Li Ya Hao
Fifth time foster parents
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| Friends in the Park |
Friends from Humen Volunteer Group visited with the children and their foster mothers at the recent Friends in the Park event at Song Shan park. Everyone enjoyed celebrating Gao Shan's birthday and Children's Day.
Friends from QSI Dongguan joined in the April Friends in the Park event. The students and staff brought Easter goodies for the children who had a wonderful time playing with the baskets, eggs and toys. |
| Community Outreach |
The Easter Bake Sale at Treasures of Hope raised funds to help the children at TCH.
Students and staff from QSI Shekou collected diapers, formula, and supplies for the children.
Fifth grade student Kendall (not shown) from American International School in Guangzhou arranged for the donation of a medical kit to TCH.
A box of hand-made quilts arrived at TCH from the ladies at Stitches From the Heart.
Friends from QSI Zhuhai donated diapers, wipes and funds to TCH staff.
One-and-a-half year old Guang Chao and his parents met with a surgeon at Tung Wah Hospital. True Children's Home was able to arrange cleft lip and palate surgery for Guang Chao.
Jing Zhi, shown here with his mother, was featured in the September/October 2010 newsletter. Jing Zhi has cerebral palsy and has been participating in physical therapy sessions. He now receives therapy at his home and is progressing nicely.
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| True Heroes |
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The Korean Women's Club has held various fundraising activities to support TCH, including garage sales and bake sales. Here several members of the Korean Women's Club are shown presenting funds to Willow, the Home Care Coordinator.
Thank you Korean Women's Club, for helping to make a difference in the lives of the children. You are True Heroes!
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| Adoptions |
Bu Yan's father met her foster family (left) and shown with both of her parents (right).
Wei Wei and her family from the US.
Wen Ai and her family from the U.S. (left). Her parents also had the chance to meet
Wen Ai's foster parents.
Hao Yi and Hao Er with their new family from the US.
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| Adoption Update |
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Adeline (Lei Lei
Dear Friends from True Children's Home,
Happy Easter! Hope you both had a blessed day! It was a wonderful day for our family. It was fun to celebrate with LeiLei. After participating in 3 Easter egg hunts, I am proud to say that she is a pro at finding eggs, shaking them, and discovering what's inside! At the egg hunt at her grandparent's house, she was putting all the money from the eggs into her pocket. Smart girl! But more importantly, we were able to share with her the true meaning of this special day.
LeiLei is finally healed up after her oral surgery. It took awhile for the sores on the side of her mouth to heal up. Little girl likes to pick at her boo boos! She is eating well and seems to manage biting pretty well into things with her gums. On her surgery day, she also had a CT scan due to concerns with her cranial structure. We got the results back and everything came out normal! We are so thankful for this good news. We did recently discover that she has a submucous cleft palate (cleft on soft palate under thin membrane). It is causing some nasality of speech so we are going to monitor it. Down the road, she may require surgery for it. That is all the medical news for now.
She continues to grow and get stronger. She loves playing outside and riding her little pink bike. We also like to push mei meis around in the stroller outside. She is so considerate and lifts the stroller over big bumps on the sidewalk. It's funny though because if she gets dirty we have to go in and change right away. She hates having mud or dirt on her pants. I'm not used to that after having 3 boys. She is talking more and more each day. We took her to a ranch where you ride in a horse-drawn wagon and feed animals. She loved it! We also went to the Pittsburgh zoo. We were laughing about how there was an elephant named Jackson (her brother's name). A week later, she kept talking about the baby elephant Jackson. I had almost forgotten about it but she remembered. She is absolutely adored by everyone and loves playing with her brothers, cousins, and friends.
Please feel free to share any part of this with LeiLei's foster mom or in the TCH newsletters. She misses her China momma but continues to bond and attach to us beautifully. Hope all is well with you especially during this time of transition. Take care!
Lei Lei and Family
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| Adoption Update |
Jack (Ai Yu)
Hello, True Children's Home!
Our little boy turned five years old in March, and he's doing absolutely wonderful! Jack (Ai Yu, b. 3/22/2006) had a wonderful celebration with lots of friends and family at Build-A-Bear Workshop where every child got to "build" their own teddy bear. It's amazing to see how our lives have been enriched by the friends we've made because of Jack.
Jack was born with bilateral cleft lip and palate, both were repaired in China, and the caring staff at TCH loved him through his recoveries.
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When we brought Jack home to the U.S., we were so fortunate that these surgeries were already taken care of, because it freed us up to work on his hearing loss due to bilateral microtia (small ears).
In January of this year, Jack had surgery to get a Baha implant. Baha stands for bone-anchored hearing aid and it is designed for people who have a bone conduction hearing loss. Essentially, the Baha will take sound in and route it directly to his healthy cochlea, by-passing the narrow ear canals and malformed bones in his middle ears. It's truly a miracle device, and we're so fortunate to have great doctors in our town who could perform this surgery. We're expecting Jack to be able to wear the Baha processor directly on the implant in July. For now, he wears the processor on a headband. (Red, his favorite color. J)
This technology has allowed Jack to hear so much better and his speech has improved dramatically. His time in preschool for the hearing impaired and in a "regular" preschool have prepared him to move on to Kindergarten this fall. We are so very proud of our son!
Now that he is five, Jack can start having some additional cleft surgeries - the first will be this summer to do a little reconstruction of his upper lip and the sides of his nostrils. Later in the fall, we're considering a more invasive procedure that will result in him being able to make speech sounds that are currently difficult for him.
We hope that all of Jack's TCH "brothers and sisters" are doing well. We want to continue to tell the TCH staff how much you mean to our family. It's still apparent, even after nearly four years, that the loving care Jack received at TCH has had a positive and lasting impact on his little life. He was always meant to be our baby, and we're so blessed to have him in our family ... forever!
With much love,
Jack and Family |
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| Adoption Update |
Marlijne (Yang Nian)
Dear Friends,
It was just a year ago that Marligne Yangnian was brought to us in Guangzhou. I've been a mother for a whole year now, unbelievable!
Marlijne is doing very well. She can count to 10, knows her colors and shapes and is the light of every family gathering. Do I sound like a bragging proud mom? Well, I am:) Her feet are being checked regularly and the orthopedic surgeon is very happy with her development. She can climb up and down the stairs (with a little help), run and jump. Just like any other 2 year old.
Recently our country celebrated Queens Day. And since the name of our Royal Family is "van Oranje Nassau', orange is the color to wear. I bought Marligne an adorable orange dress in Guangzhou, for her to wear on that day. And it fit!
Take care,
Marlijne and Family
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| Adoption Update |
Elayne (Xi Yang)
Our precious Xi Yang is now 15 months. She's doing really fine. Always happy, laughing, and smiling. Such a wonderful little girl and... very very smart! She changed so much since day one. Mostly, she was so hungry! The first evening, she ate 3 small bowls of Rice cereal + a full bottle of Milk! Then we introduced her Peas right away, she had a Flip! We added all kinds of new food since, and she welcomed them, jumping in her seat with joy! And the next weeks, she kept eating so much, she grew and took weight to the point that the doctor never thought she was adopted so recently! She slept and still sleeps all her nights since we have her. She walks and talks a lot! A real little girl! She touches at everything and adapts herself to all kinds of environment.
The weeks that we were in China, she didn't want anything to do with me (mommy) only Robert and Etienne. Then, back home, she didn't have a choice: I was staying home with her. We became so close! She calls me "Maman" in French now and she recognizes us (Robert, my son Etienne and I) everywhere now. She loves spending time with each one of us! Also with her dog Sally! Our Beagle loves her so much, that she's anxious that Elyane finally wakes up after her afternoon nap.
She walks all the time: never taking a break. So I let her walk... good exercise. Now, she more runs than walk. She falls and get up, start over again and again. She walks up the stairs also. So I need to correct her every time (she goes on the corner of the sofa for a minute), and she returns all the time... My dog relaxes on one step, it stops her ambition to go upstairs! hahahaha
Finally, Elyane is a great traveler: by plane, she slept all the way. and by car: she sleeps all the way! hahahaha
So thank you for this wonderful gift! She's the Bundle of joy! After so long we dreamed about her, she fulfills our lives now! What an angel!
Thank you again!
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| Adoption Update |
Ji-Yan (Huan Yan)
I gave kisses and hugs to Huan Yan for you. She's so great, bright, funny and so likeable. She likes dancing, laughing, and playing outside. She's sleeping and eating very well. She all ready says a lot of French words. She gives and accepts love and affection. We want to thank you and her foster family who gave her love and affection. She's so lucky to have met all of you. Thank you for taking care of her so well. We are so proud to be her parents.
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| Vital Statistics |
Children who received care - 149
Surgeries performed - 177
Children transitioned to foster care - 118
Children adopted - 103*
*Children have been adopted into families in China, Canada, Spain, Holland, Denmark, Sweden and the U.S.
True Children's Home relies on donations from individuals, organizations and corporations. One hundred percent of donated funds goes into one of our four programs: Home Care, Medical Care, Foster Care and Community Outreach. All administrative expenses are underwritten by Alan and Twila True.
Donations can be made by credit card in US Dollars or Hong Kong Dollars at www.truechildrenshome.org; be sure to follow the appropriate instructions. Donations by check should be payable to "Lotus Buds International" with "True Children's Home" written in the memo section. Checks can be mailed to: True Children's Home, 2052 Alton Parkway, Irvine, CA 92606.
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| Quick Links |
Apatchina Yahoo Group
Adoptive Parents of Alumni of True Children's Home - China
ClaraMillDesigns.com
Order hand-painted necklaces to benefit the children of True Children's Home.
Providing the gift of blankets to children throughout the world
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